Yes, it was only an exhibition game.

But, from just about every perspective possible, head coach Scott Owens had to like what he saw in Colorado College's season opener at the World Arena on Saturday.

Led by senior left wing Alexander Krushelnyski, who recorded a natural hat trick in the third period to turn a close affair into a runaway, the Tigers skated to a 5-0 victory over the University of New Brunswick.

Freshman forward Sam Rothstein set up all three of Krushelnyski's tallies, which came just 3:39 apart and turned a 1-0 lead into a comfortable 4-0 cushion with less than 10 minutes left to play.

Rothstein was not the only rookie to make an impact, as classmate Alex Roos notched CC's first goal in the opening five minutes of the contest then assisted on junior defenseman Ian Young's power-play blast that rounded out the scoring with 4:57 remaining. Freshman defenseman Jaccob Slavin also picked up an assist in the late uprising.

Two of Krushelnyski's goals came on the power play, as Colorado College converted on three of seven opportunities with the man advantage.

"They're a good team," Owens said of the Varsity Reds, who claimed the Canadian Inter-university Sport (CIS) championship in 2012-13 and had won four previous exhibition games against collegiate opponents from north of the border to start this season. "We may have worn them down on the big sheet."

Each of CC's three goaltenders – senior Josh Thorimbert, freshman Tyler Marble and junior Courtney Lockwood – played a period and combined to make 30 saves in the shutout. The Tigers out-shot UNB by a 34-30 margin overall, with Charles Lavigne finishing with 29 saves for the visitors.

"I'm most happy with giving up zero goals," said Owens, now in his 15th season at the helm. "I thought all three of our goalies played well."

Marble steered away 12 New Brunswick shots on target in the middle stanza. Thorimbert, who started, and Lockwood, who played the final stanza and a post-game exhibition shootout, each kicked out nine.

Krushelnsyki admitted that a hat trick always feels good.

"But it feels better to have a couple things accomplished as a team," he said. "That's more exciting – to see us taking a step as team.

"I'm actually impressed with the jump our freshmen made from practice to playing a game. They showed that they can contribute, that they're not just practice players. Nobody looked out of place."

Of the nine freshmen on the roster, all but the injured Zach Aman saw action. 

The Varsity Reds won the post-game shootout, 2-0. As members of the fledgling National Collegiate Hockey Conference, the Tigers and seven other NCHC teams will utllize the NHL-like method to settle overtime ties in league play, for standings purposes only. To introduce its fans to the shootout, Colorado College has decided to showcase one after each of this season's two exhibition games, regardless of the final score. CC plays host to the United States Under-18 Team next Saturday.